oppn parties A Nation Cheering Bronze While Its Golds Vanish

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  • The Centre revoked the visa of Norwegian journalist Helle Svedsen and refused to allow her to visit India to speak at a conference on press freedom. She became famous for baiting Modi when he had visited Norway
  • PM Modi extended Diwali greetings to Indian Overseas Congress chief Sam Pitroda after the latter spoke warmly about him in an interview
  • Priyanka Gandhi hits back at BJP over Sonia Gandhi's memoir. Visiting her Wayanad constituency, Priyanka accused the BJP and RSS of spreading falsehoods about her mother for years and defended Sonia's right to present her own account in Belonging: A Journey of Lov
  • BJP intensifies attack on Sonia Gandhi over 1984 riots and Emergency. BJP leaders accused the Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson of presenting a selective account of the past and softening the record of the Congress leadership. Sonia's memoir describes the 1984 violence as a shameful chapter, acknowledges delayed justice and discusses the Emergency, while defending aspects of her family's role
  • Navi Mumbai dethrones Indore from the top position in the cleanest city in India. Indore was at the top for the last 8 years. Surat and Vijaywada ranked second and third
  • Centre considers special sitting of Parliament to revive Women's Reservation Bill. The government is planning to bring the Constitutional Amendment Bill providing 33% reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and state Assemblies back before Parliament. The proposal is linked to delimitation and a possible increase in Lok Sabha strength from 543 to 850
  • AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi and Azad Samaj Party (Kanshiram) leader Chandrashekhar Azad were reported to be preparing a joint political arrangement for the 2027 Assembly election. The proposed combination could seek to mobilise Dalit and Muslim voters, but its electoral significance will depend on the final seat-sharing arrangement and support on the ground
  • Ladakh administration imposes 60-day movement restrictions on Sonam Wangchuk. An order issued by the Leh administration on Wednesday restricted the climate activist's movement, citing concerns over public order and the ongoing electoral process
  • Abhishek Banerjee's Kalighat roadside shed demolished by civic authorities. Kolkata municipal workers removed a temporary bamboo structure and an iron gate outside the TMC general secretary's residence on Thursday, citing obstruction of pedestrian movement
  • Two missing Special Police Officers found shot dead in Kishtwar. The bodies of Babi Chand and Rashpal Kumar were recovered from a forest area in Jammu and Kashmir's Kishtwar district. Their service weapons and ammunition were missing. The killings came amid a renewed spate of attacks on security personnel, including the firing on a CRPF checkpoint in Kulgam that injured three personnel
  • October retail inflation rises to 6.09%, breaching RBI's upper tolerance limit. India's annual retail inflation increased from 5.54% in September to 6.09% in October, exceeding the Reserve Bank's upper tolerance limit of 6% for the first time in two years. Higher food prices, adverse base effects and rising energy and input costs contributed to the increase
  • The Sensex gained 31.61 points (0.04%) to close at 81,911.01, while the Nifty 50 advanced 44.30 points (0.18%) to 25,299.35 on Thursday
  • India Under-19 enter Asia Cup final after defeating Afghanistan by eight wickets. Captain Lakshya Rajesh Raichandani scored 93 as India chased down Afghanistan's target of 228, reaching 230 for two in 36.5 overs. India will face Pakistan in the final
  • Vivaan Kapoor wins shooting silver and secures India's Olympic quota. Kapoor finished second in the men's trap event at the ISSF World Championships in Doha, earning India a quota place for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics
  • Lakshya Sen and Kidambi Srikanth reach Kumamoto Masters quarter-finals. Both Indian shuttlers advanced to the men's singles last eight at the Japan Super 500 tournament
October retail inflation rises to 6.09%, breaching RBI's upper tolerance limit. India's annual retail inflation increased from 5.54% in September to 6.09% in October, exceeding the Reserve Bank's upper tolerance limit of 6% for the first time in two years
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A Nation Cheering Bronze While Its Golds Vanish

By Linus Garg
First publised on 2026-10-02 05:37:30

About the Author

Sunil Garodia Linus tackles things head-on. He takes sides in his analysis and it fits excellently with our editorial policy. No 'maybe's' and 'allegedly' for him, only things in black and white.

India has not moved forward since Hangzhou. It has moved backward and is calling it a good effort.

The Times of India's article today by  Sabi Hussain on the Aichi-Nagoya Games sets out the record. India won 28 golds in 2023, and by Thursday it had lost 20 of those titles. The medal tally has passed 60, against 106 last time. The report also notes that the nine individual golds from Hangzhou, spread across shooting, athletics and archery, had not been defended. These are the events decided by one athlete and the clock, with no teammate to share the burden. India has lost its grip on exactly those.

The ten golds India does hold tell a narrower story. Nine of them came in team, relay or mixed events. One came from an individual athlete, Neeru Dhanda in women's trap. A country with the ambitions India announces should not depend so heavily on formats where a single strong squad can carry the result. Depth in individual sport is what separates a power from a participant, and the numbers show India is thin there.

The reaction is the second failure. Defending squash champions returned with a bronze. A wrestling silver was celebrated because India had waited since 1962 for one. Tennis returned without a medal for the first time since 1986. In each case the coverage found a reason for comfort. A nation that measures itself against its own low points will always find a small win to cheer. It will never find the reason it is falling behind.

The hockey semifinal shows the habit clearly. India built a 3-0 lead over Pakistan, let them claw back, and won 4-3 with seconds left. The result is a place in the final, and that deserves credit. But a champion that nearly throws away a three-goal lead has a problem that the scoreline hides. Relief is not the same as dominance, and the post-match mood confused the two.

Other Asian powers will read these results as an opening. Their programmes plan across years, treat the Asiad as part of a longer preparation, and do not stop to celebrate a single podium. India's athletes often do remarkable things in spite of the structure around them. The question to put to the federations is why the structure produces so few repeat champions. Who selected the squads, who decided the funding, and who answers when a defending gold medallist does not reach a final? Those answers should be on the record, with names and dates.

India's talent is not the issue. Its tolerance for mediocrity is. A system that is never held to account will keep producing the same result and the same explanation. Each time, the public will be told that progress is under way. The medal table says otherwise.


Read the Times of India article


After this article was written, four more individual gold medals were won in brilliant performances by Lovlina Borgohain (75kg), Parveen Hooda (65 kg) and Ankush Panghal (80 kg) in boxing and Sujeet Kalkal (65kg) in men's freestyle wrestling

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